No Such Thing as Boring in Berk
by Deer Flower
Summary: "Give it at least another week before asking for trouble, son. Some of us actually like having structures stay in once piece." "But I find chaos to be a bit more fun," Hiccup responded, earning a soft laugh from Stoick as well as himself. [...] 'What am I going to do with you, Hiccup?" the dragon thought, as laughter from three voices rang out through the house.
1. Chapter 1

Well as I was going through my emails, I noticed quite a bit of them dealt with some people deciding to follow me. Why they want to is beyond me but it got me realizing I've been doing a lot more reading than writing fanfictions.

So to remedy that, I decided to go ahead and set my little idea to keys and board. While I'm not 100% sure I should have even posted this, I do know I'll never know if it's decent unless I post it. If it's as bad as I think… meh. At least I tried.

This takes place a little after DreamWorks _Dragons: Defenders of Berk_ season finale (episode _Cast Out Part II_) and before _HTTYD 2_. I still haven't gotten over that emotional scene so you know who is up and about. (Pretty sure most have seen it by now and know who I'm talking about, but I don't care. Saying/ writing it just makes it too real!)

Without dragging this on further, here ya go. Read, enjoy it, review/favorite, I don't care. Just you looking at this story is considered a victory to me.

Disclaimer: I do not own _How to Train Your Dragon_. I'm just posting this for my (and your) amusement and will not be gaining any profit from my writing (At least not yet).

* * *

With their great chief Stoick back (no offense to Hiccup), a shaky truce established with the Outcasts (with Mildew joining them), the Screaming Death content to leave them alone (much to everyone's relief), and Dagur the Deranged taken care of (much to everyone's greater relief), it seemed only appropriate for the residents of Berk to throw a great feast. Knowing that their time of peace would probably end soon, better to celebrate now and struggle through the hard times later. And repeat the cycle once again.

Despite an unexpected thunderstorm raging outside the doors of the great hall, the festivities inside the large room stayed in full swing. The small bonfires roared with a steady supply of wood as small children danced around them, playing games with each other and their just as small dragons. Always keeping one eye on the tiny troublemakers, the adults exchanged stories and laughter with each other through bites of food and chugs of their beverages. Even Stoick retired from his head seat to talk with his tribesmen, and prove that he could still out do all of them whether in drinking or storytelling.

While most of the villagers' dragons found their own shelters from the rain outside the hall, a good number found themselves basking in the hall's warmth and friendship with the humans. A few bored ones snatched pieces of choice meats from the unknowing adults' plates, a few took over the task of watching the young ones (both human and dragon), and the rest simply lounged around, too full and warm to go anywhere else.

Through all the chatter and crowds, Berk's dragon riders stayed in their own corner, laughing about their most recent adventure. The twins and Snoutlout greatly exaggerated their part of the tale, not noticing the other teens' knowing smiles nodding with their story. Every now and then, Fishlegs stressed his own part, as did Astrid when she felt the need to say so.

"With a great battle cry, I-"

"If you had been there you'd have-"

"Nothing got past me-"

"Please, if it wasn't for me-"

"All of you are wrong. It was me who-"

And so the conversation continued, everyone adding in their own spins while their dragons seemed to be discussing with themselves as well. Whether or not they understood what their humans were saying wasn't clear, but they appeared to be telling their own versions of the adventure as well. Like their human counterparts, the dragons nodding in agreement with what one said or hissed out a 'true' telling of what happened. The only difference between their conversation and their humans' were the slews of hissing, snaps, and growls that were devoid of any malice.

At the edge of each group, the pair who made the greatest difference simply watched the exchanges with amusement. Hiccup, because he couldn't spin a great tale of battle to save his life, and Toothless, who just didn't feel like showing up his comrades (this time at least).

Neither minded though since everything had worked itself out in the end and there would be plenty of other battles to be fought in the future. After all, there's never such a thing as a boring week on Berk.

As the night wore on and the storm seemed to let up, some of the villagers with morning jobs or small children and dragons paid their neighbors good night. The ones remaining gave them a loud good bye, returning back to their rowdy discussions as their drinks continued flowing and their minds came up with new tales.

Growing tired of their previous discussions, the teens moved on to simpler subjects.

"So tomorrow," Hiccup started. "I was thinking we could fly around to the areas the Screaming Death sunk. See if there's anything new that came up."

"Oh come on, Hiccup," Snotout, rejected, pushing aside his plate. "We just got done dealing with that thing. Let's just take a break. Race each other around Berk or one of the other islands."

"For once, I'm agreeing with Snotlout," Astrid replied. When the large boy looked like he was going to say something that might anger her, she quickly continued. "Let's just relax for a while. No crazy villains to worry about, no crazy dragons out to kill us. This is the perfect time to catch our breaths until the next onslaught."

Thinking it over, Hiccup glanced around the room and began to see what his friends were talking about. Since the whole mess started with Outcasts, Dagur, and a bunch of dragons coming out to get them, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to slow down for a minute. Catch some fish, terrorize some birds, enjoy some free flying; yeah, that idea sounded good.

His acceptance of a break, however, led to a major group discussion about what to spend the day doing. They weren't going to set fire to anything (No that is not up for negotiation, Tuffnut and Ruffnut) and they weren't feeling up to any cross island adventures (How is that even relaxing, Snotlout?).

So as they talked, their dragons slowly lost interest and made their way back to their homes. Giving their riders a gentle nudge (or pound in Hookfang's case) to alert the teens to their leave, the large beasts left until all who was left was Toothless. Normally he would leave as well, but with the rain making everything slippery, he didn't want to risk Hiccup accidently slipping on his way up to the house. Plus, the boy still had yet to finish his tasty looking cod and no way was Toothless just going to leave that fish uneaten.

Making sure no one was looking, the Nightfury carefully grabbed the now cold fish by the tail, slowly sliding it off the plate until it rested against his chest. Feeling a bit mischievous, he slunk over to the other side of the hall and finished off the fish in two bits. Looking out to see if Hiccup had noticed his dinner's disappearance, Toothless found his gaze caught by a slight movement by a table full of loud men across the hall.

At first, the dragon didn't notice anything that would catch his attention at that distance. It was a just a group of men, laughing, drinking, a mug moving across the table on its own, fists pounding on tables… Wait, a mug moving on its own?!

When one of the men went to grab his drink, he was surprised he had to reach out over the table and grab it. His surprise quickly faded to indifference as he chugged his drink. Everyone was starting to become a little dazed due to the alcohol in their systems so he had probably moved that mug further than he initially thought.

Blinking, Toothless turned away and noticed another table with a person's plate of fish move by itself. When the fish's consumer, mildly surprised at the plate's movement but not worried, reclaimed their dinner, however, they found that their utensils couldn't cut through the fish's body. A quick check with their finger revealed confusion on how their food, which was nearly steaming a second ago, was now cold as a block of ice.

As that person warmed their fish back up over one of the fires, still wondering about the rapid cooling, the dragon took that time to see if there was anything else funny going on. He noticed some mugs and plates moving on their own, a few people yelling as their drinks overturned seemingly on their own, two people tripping over thin air, and one person's chicken dinner disappearing in what appeared to be a blink.

Many villagers ending up taking that as a sign that it was time for them to leave, as did the observers who decided they might have been festive a little too long as well. It was getting very late anyway.

Noticing this, the teens also finished up their conversation and the remains of their near forgotten dinner. When Hiccup noticed that his cod was missing, he sent a playfully glare to Toothless, who merely 'smiled' in innocence, still trying to figure out the night's strange happenings. Toothless' easiness, however, vanished when he saw something flicker near Hiccup.

Suddenly defensive, he slowly stalked back over to his friend's table and saw a faint shade of a human figure pass a slender hand over Hiccup's mug. The image blinked out just as Hiccup picked his mug up to finish off his beverage.

Before the rim met his lips, however, the brunette gave out a loud cry and threw the container to the group. In the resulting commotion from the other teens, both Hiccup and Toothless swore they heard a slight hiss as the mug hit the ground and a coiled creature with black skin and a flash of fangs near its mouth fell out. With a blink however, the fangs vanished and the mysterious creature turned out to be an eel, clearly dead with its red and black striped body nearly glowing in the firelight.

"Hiccup! Are you alright?" Astrid asked, gently placing her hand on the boy's shoulder as everyone stared down at the ground. With a dazed look in his eyes, Hiccup slowly nodded and carefully slid out of the bench seat.

Astrid stood with him as he worked to avoid stepping in the overturned contents of his drink, and especially avoiding the eel that was staring up at him with its dead eyes. Shaking his head, Hiccup let out an uneasy laugh and turned to the others, saying, "Alright guys. Good joke. Not sure how you managed to sneak an eel that size into my drink, but it was clever anyway."

Picking up on his attempt at dispelling the tension, the rest of the teens chuckled as well but pushed their own mugs aside as they stood up from their seats. With hasty goodbyes, all of them left with Astrid staying behind to ease Hiccup while Toothless snarled at the eel, casting one eye around the hall.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Astrid asked again, wanting to make sure her close friend was okay. Neither of them cared to notice how close their faces were to each other while her hand gently patted one of his shoulders, the other allowing itself to be held by one of his own.

Hiccup shook his head and carefully brought her arms down, smiling down at her. "Yeah, don't worry. It wasn't poisonous or anything. I'm sure it was just one of the others trying to play a little joke. Nothing a good night's sleep can't fix."

"Alright then, if you're sure," Astrid said, clearly convinced as much as Hiccup.

As the teens conversed quietly for a moment, Toothless slowly took his eyes off the eel, shaking his head from the memory of eating one of those vile things. His ears picked up a small sound beside him, almost like laughter, and from his peripheral vision, he the caught the shade of the shape that was near Hiccup before. Quickly turning, he tried to hold back his moan of frustration when he only saw empty space. The echo of the laugh however still rang loudly in his ears.

Toothless' musings were cut short when he saw Hiccup and Astrid quickly back away from each other, obviously just noticing their close proximity. Apparently, neither human had heard the strange noise or saw the shape just now. Letting out a small chuckle from the back of his throat at their actions, the dragon went over to Hiccup as the boy embarrassingly said, "So, yeah. I guess we'll see you guys tomorrow then."

"Oh, yeah. Of course," Astrid responded, trying to hide her slight blush by pulling a lock of hair back behind her ear. Just as quickly though, she gave the boy a slight punch to the arm, both laughing quietly at the return of normalcy. Not saying anything else, the girl ran out of the hall, casting another look at the overturned contents of the mug from the doors of the great hall before turning away.

With only Toothless left, Hiccup let out a shaky breath and leaned against the table in an obvious show of uneasiness. Toothless let out a gently coo, gathering enough energy and strength to flick the eel away with his tail. Hiccup quietly laughed at the display before standing back up, saying, "It's late, bud. We should get back."

Nodding in agreement, the dragon followed his human towards the hall's exit. The storm's remnants had blew away, leaving behind a clear sky full of stars numerous and bright enough to cast the village in a soft glow. Glancing back to the hall, Hiccup shook his head at the incident and carefully began his trek down the steps.

Toothless was just about to follow when something compelled him to turn his head back in the hall. All he saw was the remains of the feast and shadows cast by the small flames. The table they were at didn't appear to have anything amiss and the mug was still overturned. The eel he had flicked away was half wrapped around the column it had hit when it collided after its brief flight.

Just as he was about to turn back around, his sharp eyes caught those of a figure resting casually against the column near the eel. The dragon stood transfixed as the figure, human in shape but seemingly more than that, brought a finger to their lips before flickering out in the next second.

Toothless just continued staring at that spot, feeling something strange wash over him, when Hiccup's voice called out from below. "Toothless, is something wrong up there?"

Shaking his head, the Nightfury rushed down the steps to join up with his rider. The boy smiled and the pair began their trek back home.

Before the pair entered the wooden structure, passing by the empty shelter to the side, a whispered statement caused Toothless to quickly turn around just as Hiccup opened the door.

Finding nothing once again, the dragon moaned in annoyance while Hiccup looked on with confusion, saying, "What's wrong, bud?"

Rather than respond, Toothless gently pushed the two of them through the door and didn't relax until Hiccup had closed and bolted the door back up. Stoick, waiting for his charges to get home before retiring, looked up from some documents and asked, "What's got the two of you spooked?"

"Oh, just some stupid prank my friends pulled on me during dinner, that's all," Hiccup replied. Patting Toothless' head in reassurance, for both their sakes, he went over to his dad to discuss some village matters that were on his mind.

As the humans droned on, Toothless' thoughts turned to the statement he heard outside the door. The voice matching the tone of the laughter from earlier.

"_Well, Toothless is a better name than Blackie_."

* * *

So yeah, that's basically it for this. It's probably obvious who the figure is, but maybe it's just me. I do have a few more scenes (at least two) that I'll be adding to this as I finish them so this story isn't quite done yet. After that, I don't know what I'll do.

Any who, thanks for reading and if there are any glaring mistakes, please tell me! I'm in 'no school' mode so my nitpickiness about spelling and grammar is on vacation. If you have any ideas on the (mysterious?) person, feel free to take a guess.

Until next time then.


	2. Chapter 2

Alright so first off, thank you to those of you who read through the first chapter. Special thanks to those who clicked those little boxes at the bottom of this story. And a great thanks to Guest reviewer for their written excitement about the next part.

This chapter was actually supposed to be added thirdly, but as I was editing the second part and compared it to this one, I thought this was a better part to add secondly.

This one is actually very humorous compared to the first chapter so don't be taken by surprise. Once you read it, I'm sure you'll see why it's like that.

Disclaimer: I do not own _How to Train Your Dragon_. I'm just posting this for my (and your) amusement and will not be gaining any profit from my writing (At least not yet).

* * *

"I think that fish is staring at us."

"Really, Snotlout?" Astrid questioned, looking up from sharpening her battle axe as the muscular boy stared down at water.

Off to the side, the other teens looked up from their small distractions (the twins playing a game with sticks, Fishlegs flipping through a small book, and Hiccup sketching something that caught his eye) as did their dragons with disbelief clear across their faces. While they were used to strange things happening, a staring fish went a little beyond their scope of norm.

"Uh, look Snot, even I have to admit that sounds stupid," Tuffnut replied, bending his stick until it snapped.

"For once, I'm agreeing with troll breath," Ruffnut seconded. "It's probably just your imagination."

"No, I'm being serious guys," Snotlout protested, looking to Hookfang for reassurance. As usual, the dragon didn't spare his rider a glance, too busy watching a bird trying to landing on a branch. His rider shot the Nightmare a glare, folding his arms when he looked back to the group. "Look, I know I'm not imagining this. That fish is totally staring at us, and very weirdly."

Every teen plus their dragons shook their heads at the boy's insistence, not having the energy to argue with him on such a pleasant (-ly chilly) day. Frustrated, Snotlout stood up and stalked the few steps over to the river's edge and crouched down. Lucky for him, the river was fast enough to keep debris from settling but slow enough that the water stayed clear, providing him enough clarity to see this staring fish.

The fish in question, a 40 inch salmon with a silver-blue sheen to its scales, simply swam in a lazy circle under the boy's stare. When it sensed something above its world, it slowly swam towards the shadow cast by Snotlout, seemingly wondering if the curious change in the water was edible.

As the salmon was doing this, Snotlout stayed perfectly silent, catching everyone off guard and interested enough to see how long the stare off would last. Neither contender seemed to notice their audience, too busy trying to outdo the other in their staring contest.

"I bet Snotlout won't last another two minutes," Tuffnut whispered to his sister. "I'm betting one," Ruffnut replied.

"You guys are giving him too much credit," Astrid added. "30 seconds maximum."

Five seconds later, the salmon was under Snotlout's shadow and continued swimming forward until it was an arm's length away from the edge of the riverbed. Another five seconds passed in silence, everyone busy staring at the two.

In a flash, Snotlout shot his hand down in the water and managed to grab the fish between its dorsal and adipose fin. Immediately, the fish tried to wiggle out of the boy's hold but only managed to get the hand to slide down passed the adipose fin. Its small victory proved meaningless, however, when Snotlout brought his other arm around to wrap around the fish's gill, effectively capturing the creature in a tight hold.

With his catch snug tightly against his chest (and beating against it with the force of Mjölnir), Snotlout let out a great laugh as the teens who betted mumbled their dissatisfaction at losing. Their negativity quickly vanished though at the boy's small victory.

"Now this is a catch!" Snotlout shouted, still struggling to keep the fish from flying out of his grasp.

"It sure is," Fishlegs nodded, setting his book aside. "Should we eat it now or release it back to the water?"

"What?! No way am I giving this baby up." The salmon found its head trapped beneath the boy's pits as he tried subduing it. "We'll eat it later tonight after I show him off to everyone in the village."

"Well, he'll certainly make a great course," Hiccup said, feeling a bit sorry for the fish's current position. The muscular Viking had been thrown into a mud pile earlier and hadn't cleaned himself fully save for the top lay of his skin.

During the short conversation, Snotlout's attention diverted from his task of trying to keep the fish contained, causing his grip to slightly loosen. Sensing the opportunity, the salmon swung the lower part of its body roughly against the soft spot on young Viking's side. Letting out a strained groan, Snotlout's hold near its head also loosened enough for the fish to fling itself up out of the boy's large arms.

Giving its capture a loud slap against its face as it went airborne, the salmon twisted its body so it could deliver another slap to the back of Snotlout's head and allowed itself to flop against the ground. Rather than be left in peace to escape, Hookfang swung its head down to recapture the squirming food with its teeth.

The salmon wasn't having that, however. With another flop the salmon banged its head against Hookfang's exposed teeth, retreating without injury while the dragon let out a growl of pain as one fang became uprooted and a few others nearly fell out of his mouth. The other teens and dragons quickly moved back when the salmon, instead of retreating back to water, flopped its way over to them.

The twins immediately crawled up on to a larger boulder, not even complaining that they were forced to share refuge as the salmon brushed against the rock and knock off a huge chunk of it. Barf and Belch followed a similar vertical retreat, only they took shelter in a tall tree that nearly toppled over when the fish banged itself against the base.

Fishlegs took that time to shield himself behind Meatlug, whose tough skin managed to take the brunt force of the salmon's attack when the fish veered their way. The impact, however, did leave a large bruise against her side that caused her to let out a soft groan of pain.

When the fish made it was toward the remaining pair of teens and dragons, Stormfly immediately swung her own tail around while releasing a stream of spikes. Instead of trapping or impaling the salmon, however, the fish managed to avoid each spike by flicking them away with either its tail or head and didn't hinder in its journey.

With that proven ineffective, the Deadly Nadder let out a quick blast of its fire, hoping to weaken if not roast the fish before it caused harm to her other friends. Despite the blazing temperature though, the fish actually seemed to enjoy it and every time it flopped back to the ground, a few sparks erupted from its scales.

"What in the world?!" Hiccup shouted at the sight. Off to the side, the other teens let out similar phrases, though Snotlout added a bit more color to his.

Astrid, not bothering to say anything, lifted up her axe and swung down at the fish. Instead of cutting the creature in half, the wrought iron actually melted when it came into contact with the salmon. To add insult to injury, the fish managed to make a small leap over the rest of the material and nearly brushed itself against Astrid's hands. Luckily, she managed to pull back in time for the animal to completely miss burning her hand off in favor of breaking the wooden handle to two (relatively even) pieces.

Unlucky for Hiccup though, the salmon did manage to knock itself against the boy's metal leg. The action caused the boy to fall back as the metal deformed under both the force of the fish and its still blazing skin. While Hiccup went down, Toothless swung his tail and managed to summon enough force to knock the fish back to the river bank. As the artificial tail's material slowly burned off, the heat coming off the salmon suddenly evaporated and the source of the group's misfortune splashed back into the water.

A quick glance down to the water revealed the fish slowly swimming around in its lazy circle, as if it never left the water. None of the teens or dragons made any sound, too shocked and a bit terrified of the scaly creature. Finally, Snotlout muttered, "Told you that fish was weird."

"You think?!" Tuffnut called from beside his sister. With the danger now seemingly passed, the twins immediately scrambled away from each other as their Hideous Zippleback not so gently jumped from the tree.

Fishlegs carefully looked over the bruise on Meatlug's side, gently applying pressure against it to gauge its seriousness. The Gronkle's distressed moan caused him to let out a great frown. "Don't worry, girl," he said, patting the area around the bruise. "We'll get you fixed up and I'll find your favorite rocks to snack on."

"What sort of salmon was that?" Astrid asked Hiccup, crouching down to carefully gather the remains of her battle axe. Her mother would definitely not be too pleased at the fact that the weapon had been brought to ruin by a fish.

"I'm not exactly sure," Hiccup admitted. Carefully, he tried standing up but the mangled leg buckled under the stress. Toothless managed to catch him before the boy hit the ground and he gave the dragon a grateful look. His face frowned however when he noticed the extensive damage done to the tail. "But I do know that that was no ordinary salmon."

"Um guys," Snotlout whimpered, causing everyone's gaze to look at him. The boy's focus was back to the water, where the salmon had swum closer and seemed to cast each of them a smirk. Whether it really was smirking or a product of their imagination, each teen and dragon backed further away and scurried off before the fish could get any further ideas.

When they made it to a small clearing close by (Hiccup showing up last due to his leg and reliance on Toothless), they all let out a loud sigh of relief and stared at each other for several long seconds. The first to break the silence was Fishlegs, who asked, "So should we tell someone about that fish or keep this to ourselves?"

"I doubt anyone would believe us," Tuffnut replied.

"Even I doubt what just happened," Ruffnut added, stroking Barf's head.

"And no offense, I'm not too keen on my dad finding out I got my butt whooped by something found on the dinner table," Snotlout answered, rubbing the back of his head as he felt a large bump slowly form. "I say let's just forget the whole thing and just say we fought a Changewing or something."

"For a second time, I'm in agreement with them," Astrid panted. How she was going to explain why her mother's battle axe was now in pieces was going to take a great tale, because no way was she admitting defeat by fish.

"Then I guess we're all in agreement then," Hiccup announced. "We were off exploring, got attacked by a wild dragon, and just managed to escape. Sounds good?"

With affirmative nods, they made their way back to the village together, no one wanting to confront the adults on their own in case the truth slip and wanting to make sure Hiccup and Toothless made it back relatively in one piece (and not because they were worried that the fish would somehow find the grounded pair this far inland and finish the job). By the time they reached its edges, they had their story and were more than ready to put that incident in the far back of their memories. Apparently fish that openly stared and then attack were now a (secret) norm on Berk.

Back at the river, said fish merely continued its circling, air bubbles floating to the surface as it laughed at its victory and the teens' hasty retreat. It was a (very amusing) battle so they at least deserved that much credit.

"_Oh, that was too much fun. Hmm… I wonder. How they would fare against a falcon_?"

* * *

Okay, now I'm almost positive I completely spoiled the identity here. If you haven't caught on to it yet, that's completely alright! It takes at least one viewing of a Law and Order SVU episode to know who the culprit is for sure (except for the times the culprit is actually a victim as well and then the episode goes to all sorts of weird twists to get the final culprit. Uh… okay never mind that last part).

Fun fact: I got inspiration of the fish's attack from Asian carp. If you haven't heard of them, basically they're an invasive species in the Northern part of America that will literally jump out of the water at any, and I mean any, sort of noise or disturbance. They're a great danger to fisherman because when they jump, they knock against the boats and the people with enough force to actually cause serious harm and injury. Basically, be careful when fishing for Asian carp in the Northern lakes.

Well moving on from my rambles, thanks for reading this far and please share any of your thoughts/ideas with me. If there are any glaring mistakes with spelling/grammar/mechanics/ etc. don't hesitate to point them out. I'm still in vacation mode.

Any who, until next time.

P.S. It almost an hour to look up environmental and physical information about salmon. Every time I typed 'salmon' in, I got a whole bunch of links about preparing it and its health benefits. Great stuff to know I'm sure, but I'm not a big fish eater. In fact, fish sort of creep me out… I think it's because of their eyes…


	3. Chapter 3

So after my month's long absence, I do dare to reveal myself once again. In my defense... I don't feel like coming up with a valid defense…

Anywho, so I bring another chapter that I realize should have been posted a while ago, but it wasn't. But now it is. So I guess I'm off the hook then? No? Well, here's the chapter anyway. Sorry if it's a bit shorter than what you were expecting. I tried to include as much as I could without turning it into a big glob of letters. Well that's officially all I have at this point. Read on!

Disclaimer: I do not own _How to Train Your Dragon_. I'm just posting this for my (and your) amusement and will not be gaining any profit from my writing (At least not yet).

* * *

Settling down for the night, Hiccup looked over as Toothless curled on his slab of rock. Once the dragon was comfortable, the boy called out a quiet 'good night' and was repaid with the dragon equivalent response. Turning over just slightly, Hiccup lowered his eyes until they were two slits, wide enough to still see the dragon but small enough that he hoped said dragon wouldn't notice.

Toothless, tired from their flights during the day, quickly drifted off to sleep within moments, not sparing the boy a glance. Hiccup, however, simply stared at his friend, slowly opening his eyes fully when it appeared the dragon had drifted off into deep sleep. While Hiccup knew Toothless was more than capable of taking care of himself (and Hiccup when the need called for), there was just something bugging him lately that pertained to the dragon.

Hiccup had woken up suddenly a few nights ago, as if someone had called out to him. The weather had been (surprisingly) pleasant so he had left the 'window' open to take advantage of the fresh air. That night, the moon was bright enough to bathe his room with just enough light for him to pick up on the objects in his room.

As he tried locating the source of the call, he noticed that Toothless' bed was empty and the dragon was nowhere in his vision. At first, he figured Toothless had went downstairs to… do whatever dragons would do in the middle of the night while everyone else was asleep, but the total silence resonating through the house crossed that notion off the list.

Despite his lack of knowing where his friend was, however, Hiccup didn't feel any sense of panic rise up. Sometimes Toothless needed a night out on his own so it wasn't extremely uncommon for Hiccup to randomly wake up and not see the dragon sleeping on his own bed.

Chalking it up to "dragon doing strange dragon things," Hiccup feel back into slumber and didn't wake up again until morning at the pestering of his best friend. Apparently late night outings didn't keep Toothless from wanting to go out on their early morning flights. Lucky reptile.

Hiccup would have just left it at that, if he didn't notice Toothless' strange behavior afterwards. During their walks (or flights) around the village, the Night Fury would perk up his ears as if listening to someone when no around them had addressed him. A few times, Hiccup had caught quick glimpses of him staring at an empty spot and studying it as if someone was standing there. Once, Hiccup swore he heard the dragon laughing as if hearing someone tell a joke. Now that wasn't exactly weird, except that it happened while the pair were over the clouds without any of the other riders or wild dragons around and Hiccup was too busy thinking to say anything.

Those incidents combined with Hiccup's uneasiness left him a bit on edge. After a day or two of this, Hiccup was about ready to confront Toothless about it but decided at the last second to wait. Sure the two of them were the closest of close friends, but even friends needed their own space every now and not be bombarded with questions they didn't feel like answering. If Toothless didn't want to tell Hiccup anything, then the boy would respect the dragon's silence.

Of course, if he found out what was going on his own, by let's say… following the dragon wherever he goes when it's night time, then technically he wasn't _openly asking _Toothless about the issue. If it was personal dragon business that didn't need his meddling, then Hiccup would put it out of his mind. If not, then at least Hiccup would have an idea on how to approach his friend without seeming nosey.

An hour passed, then another, and sometime in the middle of the next, Hiccup's ability to stay awake did as well. Throughout that time, Toothless had hardly stirred from his slumber, save for an occasional turn.

Coming to the assumption that Toothless wouldn't be going on his nightly outing tonight, Hiccup let out a soft sigh and settled himself for actual sleep. If he wasn't going to uncover his friend's secret tonight, he might as well rest up for his early morning wake up call. For a Night Fury, Toothless sure enjoyed going out on morning flights.

On the brink of sleep, Hiccup's senses slowed down and he was only mere moments away from absolute slumber when he sensed Toothless stirring from his bed. The boy instantly stilled his movements, save for a slight rise and fall in his chest, as he heard the dragon carefully walk over to him and really hoped the dragon was too focused on leaving to notice a change in his sleep behavior.

Apparently satisfied with what he saw, Toothless let out a soft coo toward the opening and took a few steps back. With great effort, Hiccup managed to keep his face sleepily neutral and was rewarded with a small thump against the openings frame, as if someone had crouched down along the wood.

He heard Toothless greet the visitor warmly, and couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore when the newcomer muttered one in return.

When Hiccup opened his eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of the stranger, he immediately let out a slight hiss of annoyance when sunlight hit his pupils. Toothless, who was in the midst of his usual morning ritual of waking up his rider, took a half step back away from the boy as Hiccup pressed his hand to his face. _Since when has the sun seemed so bright?_ he thought, slowly taking his hand away when he felt ready.

Blinking slowly, Hiccup turned to Toothless with a confused frown. "Toothless, how is it morning already?"

The dragon tilted his head, gesturing '_What are you talking about_?'

"You know what I mean," Hiccup insisted. "Someone came here last night and you-"

Suddenly, a slight fog settled over his mind and he found himself blanking out for a moment. When he thought about last night, all he could recall was telling his friend good night and falling to sleep not too long after.

During his distraction, Toothless let out a worried grunt, bumping his head gently against the boy's side. Hiccup shook himself from his thoughts before swinging his legs off the bed, making sure to avoid hitting Toothless. The dragon watched him curiously for a moment

'_Maybe I'm just overthinking things_,' Hiccup thought, sliding out of bed and hobbling down the stairs with Toothless following close behind. '_Nothing has been blowing up lately so my mind must be trying to make something out of nothing to relieve the boredom_.'

The last thought caused the boy to let out a small chuckle, earning a look from Toothless and his father, who was busy finishing up his breakfast. "What's so funny, Hiccup?" Stoick asked, setting a new plate on the table for his son while Hiccup set out breakfast for Toothless.

"Oh, just thinking that things are too quiet around here, that's all."

Toothless cast his human a curious glance, but quickly dug in to the fish before Hiccup could question him. As Hiccup settled for his own breakfast, Stoick gave a throaty chuckle at his son's response and shook the boy's hair.

"Give it at least another week before asking for trouble, son. Some of us actually like having structures stay in once piece."

"But I find predictability to be a bit boring if it goes on for too long. A little chaos only adds to the fun of things," Hiccup responded, earning a soft laugh from Stoick that he quickly mimicked.

Toothless looked up from his food and had to stop himself from letting out an annoyed sigh. Sometimes his human's knack for trouble nearly drove him a bit crazy.

'_What am I going to do with you, Hiccup_?" the dragon thought, as laughter from three voices rang out through the house.

* * *

So yes, I based the summary off of this part. In my defense, I dislike writing summaries and I thought it was better than a whole 'mysterious person on Berk/ who could it be?' type thing. Plus, it was the last scene that inspired these little one shots so I thought it only fair to give it front and center in the summary.

Anywho, after reading through the other parts of this 'story' and letting my imagination take over during my down moments, I've got some ideas on where to go with these shorts. It might involve the 'mysterious' character's reveal and it might not. Depends how my mind rolls I guess.

Thanks for reading this far and I hope you stay awesome! Until next time.


	4. Chapter 4

So another month has gone by, and I actually have something to present to y'all. At least, those of you who want to see it. If ya don't, then enjoy it anyway I guess? Don't see why one would click on a story link, make it to this chapter, and not want to read it… Well stranger things probably do happen.

Quick Info/ Inspiration for this chapter:

You know one thing that fascinates me about the HTTYD universe? Berk sheep. I don't know what it is about them, but they capture my attention. They look so normal, but I have a feeling if you look into their minds, they are anything but. I'm guessing that's where this idea came from.

That, and the episode _Animal House _from the D:RoB season. Quick overview: Farm animals are still terrified of dragons even though the dragons do not actually care to eat them. This leads to shortages and the teens must find a way to make the animals comfortable around the resident dragons. Factor in extreme weather, crazy shenanigans, and a very heartwarming moment, it turns out dragons are caring creatures, too. End overview.

So to keep myself from rambling at this point, I'll stop my train here and let you read on if ya want. Which is going back to my first point… about wanting to read this… Okay I need to stop doing this.

Disclaimer: I do not own _How to Train Your Dragon_. I'm just posting this for my (and your) amusement and will not be gaining any profit from my writing (At least not yet).

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The sheep of Berk were creatures of simple living and routine. Eat grass, stand around in a group, ignore the giant humans that spoke loudly, ignore the huge dragons hissing loudly, drink some water, and move out from their spots when the teen dragon riders decide to fly too close to the ground. Repeat (mostly) daily.

Now Skooter the sheep definitely enjoyed his simple living and routine. When he thought about his live as a sheep, he was content that nothing had really changed in his day to day actions. Eat grass, stand around in a group, ignore the giant humans that spoke loudly, drink some water, and scoot away from dragons when they tried to snatch him up during raids. Repeat (until the befriending of humans and dragons) daily.

Yes, he was content with his simple living and routines. And his reputation as a scooter still held true, whether he was avoiding the talons of raiding dragons or over excited teens and their dragons when they decide to go crazy.

As he has already stated and will probably state many more times, he was content with his life.

It was just another day for Skooter. He had already eaten his usual amount of grass for the time of day, the humans' chatter was drowned out again, the dragons (this time a trio of Deadly Nadders) were busy growling to each other by a group of lambs, and the water tasted as bitter as it usually does. Not that he cared, water was water so long as it didn't kill him.

A moment later, Skooter and the rest of the flock heard the shouts of human voices over the clouds along with the excited roars of flying reptiles. Without hesitating, all of them moved off to the sides and braced themselves as the last check-list for the day became fulfilled.

Skooter stationed himself next to Fluff and Dottie as the rushing air from the dragons' wings bounced off the ground and hit the scattered animals. Most of them, mainly older sheep that had been through the dragon raids over the years, managed to stay upright with only their ruined wool providing any indication of what happened. The lambs however, barely had time to let out a small bleep before they found themselves falling onto the grass.

Once the riding group took off back into the sky and the wind died down, the older sheep quickly went back to their spots in the meadows and continued their grazing. The lambs, slightly dazed but otherwise unharmed, slowly picked themselves back up and assisted those who had yet to pull themselves back up on their legs. Noticing this, the trio of Nadders offered their help as well and in less than a few minutes, all the sheep were back up as well. Giving themselves a thorough inspection, or as most of an inspection as they wanted, they resumed their group formation.

When the Deadly Nadders made a motion to return to their place as well, they were immediately halted by the quiet bleats of the lambs. Knowing they had the reptiles' attentions, the lambs stared up at their larger companions and the two species gave each long looks. Finally, the smallest lamb in the flock moved up to one of the Nadders and immediately gestured towards the dragon's tail.

Chirping, the dragon offered its appendage to the small creature and gave a dragon chuckle when the brave animal immediately trekked up scaly incline. The other Nadders and lambs watched in amusement as the wooly animal made its way up along the dragon's spine and climbed up its head. When it reached as far as it dared go, the lamb turned around and journeyed back down to the tail.

After it jumped back to the ground, the other lambs immediately bunched up around the other Deadly Nadders and followed the young one's lead. The once quiet meadow was now filled with the playful sounds of both lambs and dragons.

As Skooter watched the two vastly different species interact, he couldn't help but give his head a questioning tilt. Although most of the older sheep had gotten used to the fire-breathing reptiles hanging around the island, they still possessed a little inkling of fear that probably won't go away for a while. The young ones, having grown up with the dragons around, however, had gotten used to their presence and didn't feel any sort of fear when standing close to one. Or playing with some as if they were large rocks to climb on.

While that worked well for the lambs, Skooter still didn't want to associate much with them. The dragons were nice to have around when things got too chilly and they did respect personal space when you bumped them a few times, but they were still too new for old sheep like him to feel comfortable around. Maybe one day he would make an effort to greet them with more than a blink, but that day would most likely happen in the far distance future.

For now though, the dragons kept the lambs from bugging the elders too much and that was okay with Skooter. He had better things to do than let himself become a climb course for lambs who thought they were bigger and stronger than they really were. It didn't help that the dragons entertained that idea by lifting the lambs with their tails and letting them jump over each other, which just encouraged them to continue jumping.

With that out of his mind, Skooter went back to his grazing and kept his stare with Fluff and Dottie. Neither made any sound besides their chewing and an occasional 'ba' as the day settled back into routine. Yep, good, sweet, normal, repetitive, routine.

Time passed in this fashion: old sheep grazing and staring at each other while the lambs continued playing 'climb to the top of the dragon's head and then jump off' with the Deadly Nadders. Except for a few times when some of the crankier sheep bleeped for the lambs and dragons to quiet down, each group minded their own business.

Just as he was about to snatch up another mouth of grass, Skooter felt a small shadow sweep across his back. When he looked up, he noticed a dark dot lazily circling under the clouds over the meadow where they all resided in. For a moment, he felt a pang of worry. In the next moment, he gave a sheep's equivalent of a shrug and took some blades for his snack. Strange things happened on Berk, but a bird flying over their meadow wasn't one of them.

After a few beats of time had passed he felt another pang of worry hit him. He immediately glanced back up and saw that the bird was now lower than it had been when he looked up earlier. Although it was uncommon for a pang like that to hit him more than once, it wasn't exactly rare either. Skooter didn't go through the raids without gaining some sort of warning sign for moments like this when something was flying high over his head in the clouds and looked ready to snatch you up for a meal.

As the bird lowered itself, Skooter followed its movement and realized the bird was flying over the group of lambs, who had now taken to playing 'dodge the projectile spikes' with their larger playmates. Now if Skooter was a caring sort, he would have called out a warning to the group of young at this point so they could quickly find shelter from the overhead danger. As it was, he didn't feel much obligation to do so. It wasn't that he was heartless, he just didn't see a reason to state the obvious. A flying thing was coming and it has already locked itself in on its target. Not much different from the time of the raids, except there been had a different flying thing targeting them and now those previous flying things were staying on the ground with their previous targets.

On that thought, the bird quickly nose-dived down, still going unnoticed by the lambs and Nadders. A few of the other sheep had noticed what was happening and immediately halted their chewing. This action caught the attention of the other sheep until the whole flock was looking up and following the movement of the incoming intruder.

At this point, the lambs and Nadders finally turned away from their game to see what the sheep were focusing on. By the time they caught sight of the disturbance, the bird had dove into the group and quickly snatched its target. Now that the bird wasn't high in the sky, it was easy for the meadow's inhabitants to identify the winged creature as a falcon. Only, something about the animal seemed abnormal to them, even for Berk standards.

Falcons around Berk tended to be about the size of a Terrible Terror, maybe slightly larger if they were particularly great at catching food and avoiding death. This one however, was easily the height of an adult sheep with a wing spread of close to 5 feet. Its pupils glared at the animals staring back at it as the sunlight reflected off the talons gripped in the lamb's wool. With its dark brown feathers all ruffled up, it was truly menacing enough to cause the sheep to quickly move back, except for the lambs that stood shock still next to the unusually sized falcon.

Letting out a screeching series of 'kaks,' the falcon lifted up its wings and managed a straight take off from the ground. By the time any of the other animals had time to process what they were seeing, the predator was now 20 feet in the air. Its victim, the small lamb that had been the first to play with the Nadder, bleated out in panic and terror, kicking out its legs in an effort to try to get the falcon to release its hold. Even if the fall from the height would kill them, the lamb did not want to die as a meal.

When that proved useless, its bleats became louder and the falcon tightened its grip to try and silence the animal and keep its hold. In its attempt, the falcon pressed its talons harder in the lamb's wool and managed to brush the tender skin under the thick material.

From the ground, Skooter and the other sheep looked on in terror as well, before quietly looking back to the ground. None of them could do anything to help the lamb now, and as much as they didn't want to, they simply let the events begin unfold themselves. If the small lamb was lucky, its heart would give out before the falcon made it back to its nest.

Before that thought could solidify however, a sudden rush knocked Skooter out of it. Blinking rapidly, he turned from where the wind had come from and was greeted with the sight of the group of lambs still staring up. Different from the previous picture though was the distinct lack of Deadly Nadders, who had definitely been there at least a few seconds ago.

Slightly confused, Skooter followed where the lambs were staring at and would not deny the shock that graced his normally stoic face.

Gaining on the falcon were the three Nadders, each focused on the small lamb still bleating for help of any kind. As they got closer, the lead Nadder passed up the falcon and made sure to gain a bit of distance in front of them. Timing it just right, the dragon opened up its wings and directed an angry hiss toward the feathered predator.

Startled, the falcon managed to avoid crashing against the obstacle while still keeping a hold on its prize. The tiny victory was short-lived however when the other two Nadders quickly surrounded the bird. One made a grab for the lamb but was shooed back by a quick attack from the falcon with its beak.

Utilizing the distraction, the Nadder above the bird swiped its wing on the feathered flyer's back while pushing it toward the fourth flyer. The falcon couldn't regain control or its bearings in enough time to avoid staying out of the third dragon's reaching space. The third Nadder extended its talons out and (gently) gripped the lamb, who had stopped bleating when it saw its large friends arriving to help.

Despite its spinning head, the falcon still managed to keep holding on to its small snack and viciously tugged at it. The Nadder, though obviously looking sorry, responded to the challenge with energy and the two began tugging the lamb high up in the air. Although the action caused the flyers' talons to rub against the lamb's skin, severely irritating and even lightly puncturing the thin hide, the creature in danger didn't let out a single noise, terrified it would distract the Deadly Nadders in their rescue mission and draw attention from the falcon.

Before things could get too out of control though, the other two Nadders started attacking the falcon. Their help mainly consisted of swipes to the bird's head or back in an effort to disorient the creature. After a minute of this, their efforts paid off as the falcon finally released its grip on the lamb, causing it to let out a loud bleat of glee.

As that Nadder flew back down to return the lamb to solid ground, the falcon attempted to make a hasty retreat. The plan proved impossible, however, when the remaining Deadly Nadders continued their attacks. Just as the falcon thought they found an opening to escape, one of the reptiles would push them back to the other one and they would continue their assault.

Down in the meadow, the Nadder carefully laid the shaking lamb onto the grass and stepped back as the other lambs grouped around their rescued friend. The lamb slowly calmed down and allowed itself to be checked over by the others. When the group had deemed their friend well, the lamb quickly moved over to the Deadly Nadder and brushed its head along one of the strong legs. The dragon responded by lowering itself down and nuzzling the lamb's wool, adding a soft growl to soothe the young creature.

Once the lamb was fully calmed, a loud thump sounded from behind them. In unison, the sheep and Nadder watched as the falcon slowly lifted itself back up, swaying heavily and looking toward its limp right wing. The two Nadders landed beside the bird, extending out their wings to discourage the creature from trying to escape. Slowly, the sheep, who had been watching the entire altercation, circled around the downed predator.

Skooter also joined in the motion and by the end of it, all the sheep had the bird trapped in a circle. The only way for the falcon to escape was to fly straight up. An option that seemed improbable and highly painful if the bird's pained expression when it moved was anything to go by.

As the former attacker regained its senses, its look of pain slowly morphed to one of slight fear and panic. Anytime it tried to take a step in one direction, the sheep on the side would scoot in and compel it to return back to the middle of the circle. After experimenting this motion a few times, the bird seemed about ready to give itself up, which all of the Berk animal residents were willing to comply with. The dragons just wanted to make a point about trying to snatch away one of their friends and the sheep just simply followed whatever the strongest beings in charge wanted to do. None of the wooly farm creatures or Nadders would do anything to further torture the creature if it wished to leave without further conflict.

When they made a motion to step back however, the bird's panicked posture snapped back to hostility and it only took for a second for chaos to descend on the group. In a blink, the feathered creature's body morphed into the long, circular, and familiar shape of an eel.

Instinctually, the Nadders flew back and the meadow creatures moved out as well when it was obvious the intruder had regained control. The bird now turned eel stared with hard eyes at the scene before changing back into a bird. Giving its injured wing a lazy look, a strange light surrounded the hurt area and was accompanied with the pops of bones realigning and feathers straightening themselves out.

Seconds after the transformation, the falcon's wing was completely healed. Not wasting a single second, the bird lifted up its strong wings and flew off away from the meadow. None of the Deadly Nadders made a motion to follow and none of the creatures relaxed until the bird was well out of sight.

As the tension slowly unwound, the lambs flocked back to their large, scaly friends and the sheep went back to their previous spots. Skooter, joined up once more by Fluff and Daisy, also resumed his station. The Nadders gave their own look over at the lamb that had been carried off and let out satisfied chirps when they found the potential meal relatively unharmed. There was a spot or two where the talons had dug a little too deep, but the lamb insisted it was fine.

Trusting its judgement, the Deadly Nadders lowered themselves down and lifted up their wings so the lambs could gather around their bodies under the shade. Once each one was comfortably set and ready to nap, the Nadders carefully laid their wings down so the cool breeze would prevent the lambs from becoming too hot and closed their eyes as well. Moments later, the meadow was now filled with the quiet sounds of snoozing lambs and the slightly less quiet chirps of three Deadly Nadders.

While the sheep turned away from the scene, Skooter couldn't help but look on a while longer. Ever since he was a lamb himself he had hardly been as affectionate towards his kin as these lambs were today. It wasn't that he was any more heartless than the other sheep, he just never felt a need to try and connect with them.

During the raid years, they had grouped up more out of instinct than longing and would not hesitate to run away when danger came at them with scorching flames and razor sharp teeth. Any sheep or lamb who couldn't get away in time was the one unfortunate enough to get snatched. If fortune turned to that creature's way, one of the large humans would save them before the dragon got too far. Sometimes fortune looked the sheep's way, sometimes it turned away.

Because of this, Skooter had never tried to seek out companionship in the flock nor had any other sheep in the flock sought out him. Fluff and Daisy were the exceptions only because they often hid in the same places together and were quickest at running away. It wasn't until now, however, that Skooter began actually looking forward to seeing them throughout the day and didn't feel the needed to continually have one leg ready to bolt when danger came.

A new development that he can only attribute to the dragons that insisted on having their loud chats in the meadows where they all grazed and gathered, effectively ruining their quiet peace and scaring off less dangerous predators. That thought in mind, Skooter turned back to the other two sheep and allowed himself to get lost in his (admittedly newer and greatly better) routine. He entertained the notion of greeting the Nadders tomorrow if they showed up, but quickly dismissed the idea.

Although their recent attacks were not directed at him, it did remind him too much of the times when your sheep associate was there one second and gone the next. Maybe once those Deadly Nadders became old like him and wouldn't be able to throw their spikes or shoot their plasma blasts with the ease they do now, then maybe he might say a greeting. He might ask them how they were doing.

Until then, though, he contently went back to his routine. Yep, his good, sweet, (Berkian) normal, (mostly) repetitive, routine.

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Well thanks for making it this far. If ya didn't like it… I'm sorry? Hope to meet your expectations next time? ... Oh, you're not giving me a next time… Okay stop rambling on that note!

Anywho, I do hope I didn't horribly waste your time and that you actually enjoyed this. Like I said, the Berk sheep fascinate me and couldn't help but write about them. I also really like Deadly Nadders. They're just so birdlike it's easy to place them anywhere but they're also really awesome fire breathers that can fly! So put fascinating sheep and bird like, fire breathing Nadders together and what do you get? ... This one-shot! *crickets* Okay, no more jokes for me…

Added notes: I dislike coming up with names and it took me ten minutes to finally settle on Skooter, Fluff, and Daisy, and only because I was tired of pressing the 'sheep name generator.' Kid you not, I used a 'sheep name generator' to pick out names for sheep. Next item: the little lamb which I didn't name is actually 'Little Hiccup' from the episode _Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Young Man_. Overview in this context: Human Hiccup is questioning his worth as a Viking and que the sheep herder who waits for 'Little Hiccup,' the runt of the little, to catch up as he's moving the flock. End overview.

Before I ramble off again, thank you for reading this far and I hope to continue presenting fun stories for you to enjoy. Until next time.


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